Team of Rejects
by Conner Krad
Summary: Only able to see half the world, Ash still hasn't lost sight of becoming a Pokemon Master. Being half blind, it is no surprise that Ash wasn't meant to be a pokemon trainer, but neither was he meant to stay home and do nothing. Follow along as Ash proves to the world that there's more to him and his team than just being a reject.
1. Chapter 1

While the sun rose, the Pidgeys chirped, the Rattatas scurried about, the Milktanks mooed, the Metapods grew harder... and much more happened when the new day made itself apparent. But for young Ash, he was only able to see half of this. Being blind in one eye, it was tough for Ash to convince his mother to finally let him begin his Pokemon Journey. In the time it took to convince his mother, his rival and best friend Gary Oak has already left a whole month early with his Squirtle.

Putting on his eyepatch to cover his left eye, Ash couldn't help but feel excited to finally begin his journey. Making his way downstairs, he spotted his mother nervously pacing around the kitchen.

"Morning mom." Ash took a seat at the table and began eating his fill, trying to finish as fast as possible to meet up with Professor Oak.

"Oh Ash, I'm so worried," his mother confessed, "do you really want to start a Pokemon Journey. It's been so dangerous out there lately, with Team Rocke-"

"Don't worry mom, I'll be fine!" Ash reassured. He quickly made his way to the door and left, leaving before his mother could change her mind.

Once Ash was outside, he bolted to Professor Oak's lab, no longer able to hold in his excitement. He already knew his starter Pokemon; a small Riolu named Aura that Ash has been raising since it hatched from its egg two weeks ago.

Finally arriving at the lab, Ash took a few deep breaths as to not appear overly excited. Calmy entering the lab, Professor Oak was already patiently waiting by a capsule containing the original starter pokemons.

"Hello Ash, are you ready to choose the partner that will open new opportunities for you?" the professor was trying his utmost hardest to keep from smiling. The best he could manage was a small smirk on his face.

"C'mon professor! Stop playing games, where's Aura?" Ash cut straight to the chase. As he said that a blue blur made its way to Ash and hugged his leg. "There you are Aura! Are you ready to start a Pokemon Adventure!"

"Now I have to warn you Ash, with half your sight missing, you have to be extra cautious in everything you do." Professor Oak lectured. "I have full confidence that your pokemons will always be by your side and it will help you tremendously to trust their judgement, so understand that your safety comes first."

"I got it professor." Ash said positively.

"As long as you know, it's fine by me." Professor Oak walked towards his desk and opened his drawer. He pulled out a wallet sized device and offered it to Ash. "This is a PokeDex. Keep it, use it, cherish it, but don't lose it.. Not only does it analyze and record all pokemon, but it is also a Trainer ID that allows you to battle other trainers."

With that, Professor Oak gave Ash a pat on the shoulder. "I've taught you and Gary almost everything you need to know, so I know anything else I say will be a waste of our time. From making a tent to understanding Pokemon natures, you are well prepared for whatever is ahead of you."

Professor Oak handed Ash Riolu's pokeball.

"But please don't go Ash."

Ash looked at his teacher in shock.

"Sorry Professor Oak, but I'm going to become the Pokemon Master no one believed I would become." Ash gave one last, hard stare at Professor Oak. He grabbed Aura's pokeball and walked off. "Oh yeah, and one more thing, try to be a better liar next time."

This time, Professor Oak couldn't hide his prideful smile as his student proved to him that it will take much more than a simple lie to break his dream.

Ash made it back to his house only to find his mother having a panic attack.

"Oh there you are Ash! We need to go over everything that you're gonna bring, from food to underwear, we hav-" Ash picked up his backpack and released Aura.

"Look mom! It's my starter pokemon. He's a Riolu. Call him Aura." Ash said nonchalantly as he opened the door. "Aura use Aura Sphere."

A blue glowing ball suddenly sped outside the door. It continued to accelerate until it hit the fence, seering a burning hole through the wood.

"See mom, there's nothing to worry about. I have Aura on my side." Ash kneeled to pet Aura on the head. "He has some insane control over his aura, stronger than the average Riolu his age. Professor Oak even says his control is one in a million."

Ash's mother gave a sigh of despair as she realized there was no way she was going to get Ash out of this. Whatever made her say yes in the first place was a large surprise for her, but after seeing her son seem so happy with his first Pokemon just made it impossible for her to say no. He seemed so much more alive than he was with her. And because of that, it would be cruel to shelter him from everything just because he was half blind.

"Alright Ash, if that's what you want to do, then I'll support you all the way." Ash's mother managed to muster up. The thought of her little baby leaving was hard on her, but she also knew holding her baby back would feel even worse.

Ash, not wanting to leave on a sad note, turned around and hugged his mother.

"Don't worry mom, I'll make sure to become an even better Pokemon Master than Dad."

Ash firmly said. After letting go of his mother, he slung his backpack across his back and walked off to the entrance of Route 1. With his trusty Riolu on his side, he looked at Aura and back at the beginning of his future. With a deep breath he-

"Ash! Don't forget to change your underwear!" Ash's mom called out one last time.

Riolu turned around, not understanding what Ash's mom was saying, only to be quickly dragged away by his flustered trainer.

"Alright Aura, this is how we're gonna do things," Ash began in between pants, "we're gonna stay in Route 1 to do some training. Hopefully while training, we'll find another Pokemon in the area to fight and catch."

Aura gave a nod and a fist in the air to show that he approved and understood what they were going to do.

"Alright first things first, I need to know your moves, so stay still so I scan you with the PokeDex." Ash pulled out his PokeDex and scanned Aura.

 _Riolu, the aura Pokemon. Type(s): Fighting_

 _Its body is little yet powerful. It can crest three mountains and cross two canyons in one_ _night._

 _Moves of the Current Pokemon:_

 _Foresight, Quick Attack, Endure, Agility and Aura Sphere_

"Dang Aura! You know a lot of moves for a starter Pokemon, we have quite the unfair

advantage that most trainers don't have." Ash said to Aura. Aura straightened his back and puffed his chest a bit more, obviously happy to hear Ash's compliments. "I'm not too sure on how to train you yet because we haven't had a real pokemon battle yet. Let's see if there's any pokemon in the wild willing to fight."

Speaking of the Giratina, there was a nearby wild Spearow plucking away at some seeds.

"Hey Aura, let's see if we can battle that Spearow over there. If we're lucky, we might even catch it!" Excitement coursed through Ash and Aura as they charged over to the Spearow. Not really knowing how to begin a battle with wild Pokemon due to his inexperience, Ash let his eagerness best him. "Alright Aura, use Quick Attack on Spearow!"

Aura sprinted towards the Spearow, only for the Spearow to fly into the air, dodging the incoming Aura Pokemon. Unable to control his speed, Aura ran into a nearby tree, making a large crack appear within the tree.

"Aura are you okay?" Ash asked worriedly. Aura seemed dazed for a split second before running back in front of Ash, ready to listen to his trainer's next command. "Good you're okay. You got a lot of power in you buddy but we need to work on your speed. It's fast but you can't control it."

Riolu nodded as the Spearow flew back to the ground, finally noticing that it was challenged to fight. It squawked in arrogance and fluffed out its wings to try and intimidate Aura. Noticing that it wasn't working, the Spearow decided to charge forward.

"Alright Aura, it's going to use peck, so let's give it a taste of your Aura Sphere." Ash said to Aura. Aura closed his eyes and held his hand up. He was using aura not only to make the Aura Sphere, but he was also keeping track of the distance between him and the Spearow, taking consideration of any other variables like a true prodigy.

Aura released the Aura Sphere when the Spearow was only a few feet before him, making it extremely hard for the Spearow to evade the attack. The Spearow was knocked back into a bush by the strength of Aura's precise attack, disappearing before Ash could take out a Pokeball to catch it.

"Nice hit Aura, but next time, try to hold back a little, you might be too tough for most of the wild Pokemon here." Ash noted. Route 1 was too easy of a training ground for Aura, Viridian Forest may be better suited for them. "Let's see if we can find anything else to fight. I still need a better judgement on your overall skills, plus it helps me get used to battling."

The pair began walking mindlessly in Route 1, searching for Pokemon that were willing to fight. Unfortunately, all the Pokemon seem to be afraid of Aura's appearance and would flee before Ash could say a word. That is until a strange Nidoran (female) appeared before them. She was much larger than the average Nidoran, big enough to be mistaken as a small Nidorina.

"Uh, do you want to have a fight?" Ash asked awkwardly. He found it surprising that a Nidoran was in Route 1, as they were usually past Viridian City. Nonetheless, the possibility of having a Nidoqueen on his team brought childish excitement within Ash to blossom.

The Nidoran glared at Aura, and gave a growl to challenge the Trainer.

"Alright, let's get this started Aura!" Ash shouted merrily. His second battle was about to began and Ash was going to do anything to capture this Nidoran.

The Nidoran charged forward with a tackle. As she got closer, Ash realized just how large this Nidoran was. It was almost as tall as Aura on all fours. But because it was so large, its speed was something not to be proud of.

"Alright Aura, use Agility to dodge the tackle," Aura bolted to the right, making the Nidoran miss her target. "Alright, now use a Quick Attack. It's fairly slow so it will be hard for her to dodge."

Aura nodded, understanding his trainer's logic. He bolted once more towards Nidoran, and pushed her back a few feet. The Nidoran appeared to be unfazed and continued to glare at Riolu.

"Wow, she was able to take on Aura's Quick Attack?" Ash was shocked. How strong was this Nidoran? "Alright Aura, let's use Quick Attack one more time, this time, don't hold back."

Aura gave a slight growl of his own and reappeared beside Nidoran, catching her off guard. This time the Nidoran realized she was underestimating her opponent and shot a Poison Sting.

"Dodge the Poison Sting Aura," Ash said hurriedly. He didn't see the Poison Sting until it was too late. It punctured Aura in the shoulder but he seemed to be unaffected by the attack. As a matter of fact, Aura didn't even feel the sting.

Ash looked once more at the Nidoran and examined her horn. When a Pokemon of the Nido family uses a move such as Poison Sting, its main source of poison comes from their horn. But for this specific Nidoran, there was no poison in her sting. Therefore making her stinger feel like one of Professor Oak's needle, and that is equivalent to no pain whatsoever for Aura.

Nonetheless, Ash still wanted to catch this Nidoran, it's large size and brute strength would really give his team more possibilities to last in a fight with other experienced trainers.

"Let's finish this up with a Aura Sphere, Aura," Ash pulled out a Pokeball, ready to catch Nidoran the instant it was hit. Aura held his hand out and a blue sphere appeared. "Aura, she's going to try and use Poison Sting again, I want you to dodge it this time. It would be good practice instead of taking every hit."

Aura nodded in understanding and dashed forward. As predicted by Ash, Nidoran shot another Poison Sting. Aura displayed his nimble body by flipping over the sting and continued to run towards Nidoran. Landing a successful hit, the Nidoran fainted almost instantly. As quick as he can, Ash threw his PokeBall, missing horribly due to his impaired sight. The PokeBall landed a yard short of the fainted Nidoran

"Oh Arceus…" Ash muttered in embarrassment. How could he miss? Luckily Aura came to his trainer's assistance and nudged the ball enough for it to touch Nidoran. The PokeBall opened and a large red light appeared around Nidoran, absorbing her in the ball. The PokeBall shook three times before small sparkles shot out of it, signifying the success of capturing the Pokemon.

Ash and Aura ran towards the Pokeball, both staring in awe that together, they caught their next member to the team.

"We did it Aura!" Ash shouted in joy, "We actually did it!"

The Riolu repeated his name and was hopping up and down.

What was supposed to be a happy moment for the duo was short lived. The area to which the battle between Aura and Nidoran fought was filled with trees. Unnoticed to them throughout the entirety of the fight, they had quite the audience of Spearows and one large Fearow, staring at them.

Ash slowly picked up the PokeBall containing Nidoran. He was closely watching the Fearow, as it seemed to be the leader of the flock of Spearows. Suddenly, a Spearow flew off one of the many branches, towards the Fearow. Its chest was featherless, exposing its bare skin. Ash and Aura recognized the Spearow to be the arrogant Spearow that they fought before. The Spearow squawked and puffed its chest in anger. It seemed like it was communicating with the Fearow in charge.

To be quite frank, when the Spearow finished his anger tantrum, the Fearow jerked its head towards Ash and Aura, and Ash almost felt the Digletts come out of him. Instinctively, Aura noted that the Fearow was the largest threat here and stood between Ash and the Fearow. Ash could feel the rising tension in the air as his life was threatened. A flight or fight response began running through Ash's mind.

'The Spearows are going to attack. No, I take that back, the Fearow is going to attack first,' Ash calculated, 'The Fearow will come, Aura will use an Aura Sphere, since that is what I will tell him to use. It will buy us enough time to run. Viridian City is only 15 minutes away from here. Do I have enough stamina to sprint for that long? Don't know, we'll have to find a safe place to hide so I can use my PokeDex to call for help. No, running to safety is the better option, there's too many to hide from, we need to-'

Ash was interrupted as the Fearow came down upon them.

"Aura, use Aura Sphere!" Ash shouted. The Aura Sphere hit dead on, causing dust and dirt to fly everywhere. Ash grabbed Aura by the hand and sprinted away.

'There should be a stream nearby. I just need to find the stream and follow its path. It should lead me to Viridian City,' Ash planned. Just as Ash and Aura made it to the stream, a wave of Spearow came crashing down on them.

"Aura, another Aura Sphere," Ash commanded. He didn't expect the Spearows to catch up to them this quickly. Fatigue was beginning to hit Aura as he was nearing his limits. A battle with a unique Nidoran and fighting off a flock of Spearows proved to be a tough challenge for the prodigious pokemon. But Aura promised Professor Oak to keep Ash safe. Aura shot another Aura Sphere straight in the middle of the flock, causing another burst of dust and smoke. Surprisingly, one Spearow was not fazed by the explosion and came rushing towards Aura. Unable to dodge, the Spearow scratched at Aura's right eye.

"NO!" Ash screamed as he saw a trickle of blood coming from the Riolu's eye. Ash grabbed the Spearow and threw it against the tree out of pure anger. The Spearow fell with a splash before falling into the stream. "Aura are you okay?"

The Riolu was not paying attention to Ash as his sights were set on a Fearow wanting to kill. Adrenaline rushed through Aura as he spun around Ash and took the Fearow's Drill Peck head on. Aura flew back a few yards, hitting his head against a random rock near the stream bed. Horrified, Ash screamed in agony to witness his friend's pain. Aura's fur was covered in dirt and roughed up scratch marks were evident throughout his body. He picked up Aura with both hands, holding his body close to his as he ran for the safety of the city.

The Fearow and its flock of Spearows were keeping up with Ash's running. They nipped at him with every chance they got. Pulling at his clothes and even ripping off the eyepatch that hid Ash's blind eye. When it seemed that everything appeared to calm down a bit, Ash put Aura down and pulled out Aura's PokeBall to call him back but that was a grave mistake. The Fearow charged at Ash, using its powerful talons, it ripped Ash's hand free of the Aura's PokeBall. The PokeBall now in the air, Ash couldn't help but watch as the Fearow pierced Aura's PokeBall, breaking it. Aura began to glow a faint blue as the breaking of his PokeBall was taken as a sign of releasing a pokemon. Aura, now seen as a wild pokemon, no longer had the safety of its trainer.

Spearows began swarming Aura, trying to take him away but Ash wouldn't have it.

"If you want to take away Aura, you're going to have to kill me instead." Ash cried. He swatted away as many Spearows as he can around Aura and shielded him with his own body. He could feel the beaks of the angry birds pierce his flesh, taking out their anger on him, bit by bit.

"Oh my Arceus!" Ash heard a girl scream. "Braixen, Flame Charge!"

Intense heat filled the air as it scared away all the Spearows. Squawks of anger could be heard as they retreated away. Ash rolled to his back, to hurt to stand up. He observed his broken friend and observed his eye. The scratch left a large cut across Aura's eye, most likely blinding him for the rest of his life.

"Hey, we got to hurry up!" A blonde haired girl wearing a red blouse towered over his ragged body. "The Spearows are gonna come back and they're gonna be even more pissed. Why don't you recall your Riolu while you're at it."

"I can't." Ash rasped out. "The Fearow… it broke my Po-"

"C'mon, no time to waste," the girl grabbed Ash's hand and pulled him along while he held on to Aura with his other hand. Ash turned his head to see the flock of hundreds of Spearows. Is this what happens when you hurt only one Spearow? "Viridian City should be just a few more minutes from here. Come on."

No matter how hard the group sprinted, the Spearows would always catch up.

"Run ahead and bring your Riolu to a pokemon center, I'll hold them back," the girl said. "Sylveon, come on out!"

Without putting any thought into anything, Ash said a quick thank you and ran. Tears were running down his cheeks as he worried for Aura's life. Fortunately, the girl kept her word because no more Spearows appeared in Ash's way.

"Hold it there boy!" A voice shouted. "What are you doing with that Riolu?"

Officer Jenny came driving up to Ash with her motorcycle.

"Please Officer Jenny, my Pokemon are hurt an-" before Ash could say any more, Officer Jenny took Aura out of his hands. "Wait!"

"Why did you steal this Pokemon?" the officer harshly pressed. "Don't you know stealing is bad."

"No, I was attacked in Route 1 by a flock of Spearows and here," Ash pulled out his PokeDex and showed his trainer ID. "This is my trainer ID."

Officer Jenny looked at Ash's PokeDex and began looking through his information.

"It says that your only Pokemon is a fainted Nidoran how do I know for sure that this is your Riol-"

"Just let the him pass Officer." The cute girl who save Ash appeared. "He really was attacked, and you sitting here and wasting time only makes the Riolu's life more in danger."

"Please trust me," Ash begged. "If you bring me and Aura to the pokemon center, I'll even call Professor Oak and he'll explain everything about me being a trainer."

"Fine, I only have enough room for you two though," the Officer helped Ash and Aura to the motorcycle and rode off to the nearest pokemon center. Ash looked back at the blonde girl and gave a grateful smile, not caring whether she can see it or not.

After silently promising to learn the blonde haired girl's name, Officer Jenny arrived at the pokemon center in the nick of time. She even ramped up a stairway and skidded right through the entrance of the pokemon center.

"Officer Jenny how many times have I told you to not do that anymore." Nurse Joy casually said as if this was the tenth time Officer Jenny has done this.

"Too many damn times," Officer Jenny chuckled.

"Please Nurse Joy, my Riolu is seriously inju-" before Ash could finish his sentence, the nurse immediately grabbed Aura and put him on a stretcher. She gave a loud whistle for two Chanseys to come.

"Bring him to the Emergency Room quick," Nurse Joy said worriedly, "I'll be there soon." She turned back around to glare at Ash. "What were you thinking, letting your own Pokemon be beaten almost to death?"

Ash just stood there in shame. Not wanting to be reminded about how much of a horrible trainer he was. He made way for his belt and pulled out Nidoran's pokeball and handed it Nurse Joy. Before he could answer, the nurse turned on her heel and left to attend to Aura.

"It's alright kiddo, she'll get over it eventually," Officer Jenny said, "now call Professor Oak, I need to have a small chat with him."

Ash walked over to one of the centers community computers and began to dial Professor Oak's number.

"Oh hello?" The Professor called out, "Ash, is that you? You already made it to your first pokemon center? That is extremely fast!"

"Hello Professor Oak, this is Officer Jenny," at that moment the large screen finally loaded, showing the professor's large face and cluttered desk.

While the professor was covering for Ash, all Ash could think about was his Riolu. He's seen the injuries on Aura and they weren't something to take lightly. What would his teacher say about him? How would his mother feel about him? How would he ever regain his pokemon's trust again?

"Ash right?" Officer Jenny called out. "I have to apologize about what I said earlier. I mistaken you for a robber."

"It's understandable officer." Ash muttered.

"Cheer up kiddo, by what old man Oak told me, you're quite the passionate kid," the officer encouraged, "You're half blind, but you got some real spunk to you. Don't let that go just because of some bad luck."

As Officer Jenny left, Ash reluctantly walked back to the computer monitor to see the professor.

"Ash…" the professor began, "how are you feeling?"

"...beat…" Ash muttered.

"Don't let it get to you Ash." Professor Oak comforted, "All this happened not because you weren't a good trainer. You understand that right? It happened because… well I don't really know but…"

"It's okay professor, I know how it happened." Ash answered.

"Wait Ash, hear me o-" Professor Oak was cut off as the screen turned pitch black.

"So that's it huh?" Ash turned around to come face to face with his savior, the cute blonde. "Of the four years of my pokemon journey, never have I seen such a stupid reason to stop travelling." Ash said nothing. Only looking at the ground. "You're a pokemon trainer. Your pokemons are going to get hurt. There's nothing you can do about it."

A long pause was awaiting for Ash's response but nothing came out.

"You're so useless, you're making feel sick." Like Nurse Joy, the blonde girl also turned around and left Ash to be.

"Ash right? I heard Jenny say it while you were talking to her." Nurse Joy called out. "Your Riolu is going to be okay but, there are some things I have to warn you about. Your Rio-"

"Please, his name is Aura, he's not like the average Riolu." Ash didn't mean to say that but every time Nurse Joy called Aura a Riolu, he felt like she was belittling him. Aura was a strong Riolu, not just a Riolu.

"Ahem," Nurse Joy cleared her throat, "Sorry, Aura. Aura is blind on his right eye. He won't be able to see anymore." Nurse Joy paused to let the information sink in for a bit. "I also found traces of a serious concussion. He'll be out until tomorrow evening. But because he suffered serious damage to the brain, don't be surprised if there are some things that may hinder Aura's life."

Tears were pouring down Ash's cheeks. His pokemon, no, his friend took so many hits for him and he can't do anything about it. Ash put his hands to his face in utter defeat as he silently cried.

"I made reservations for you for the whole week." Nurse Joy said as she patted Ash's back. "It's more than enough time for Aura to recover from his injuries. You'll be surprised how fast a pokemon can recover."

Nurse Joy gently opened Ash's hand and placed the room key and Nidoran's pokeball in his hands.

"He's in room 2B if you want to visit him." With that, the sympathetic nurse left Ash to be.

A few hours passed before Ash slowly made his way to Aura's room. Aura was sleeping on a small bed, hooked up to machines that kept track of his heart rate. He had various bandages all over his body, and a large wrap on his head that covered his right eye. Not wanting to leave Aura's side, Ash unknowingly fell asleep on one of the chairs. During the middle of his slumber, he could've sworn he heard loud explosions and someone saying 'Pika Power', but he thought nothing of it.

Before he knew it, Ash woke up to the loud crunching beside his feet. Rubbing his right eye, Ash recognized the Nidoran happily chomping away at its food. He also noticed a small setup table with a plate of cold eggs and bacon. Seeing that it was already well past noon, Ash couldn't help but dig into the food.

Halfway finished with his food, he felt a strong tug at his leg. Looking down, he saw Nidoran looking at him.

"You need something Nidoran?"

 _Nido_

Nidoran was looking at Ash then at his food then back at Ash.

"You want some bacon?"

 _Nido_

"Was that a yes?"

 _Nido Nido_

Nidoran violently shook her head up and down, confirming her hunger for Ash's food. Ash was about to say no, but he took one more glimpsed at Nidoran. The cute little rodent was raping Ash with her eyes and before he knew it, he shared half his bacon with the large Nidoran.

" _Nido"_

"Yeah I hope you like it." Ash muttered in complete annoyance that he lost to a Nidoran. The Nidoran jumped up the chair beside Ash and placed her head on Ash's lap. She was also looking at Aura worriedly.

"You're worried for Aura too huh?" Ash asked sadly.

" _Nido"_

"Me too," Ash said hoarsely. "Hey Nidoran, I totally forgot to give you a nickname the day Aura and I caught you. Do you mind having one?"

Nidoran vigorously shook her head back and forth, suggesting that she does not mind having a cool nickname.

"How about, Queen?"

" _Nido,"_ Nidoran said in disgust.

"Oh okay, scratch that then." Ash said amusingly. By thinking of a name for Nidoran, it was helping Ash keep his mind off of his stress.

"Stinger?"

" _Nido"_

"Royal?"

" _Nido"_

"Tank?"

" _Nido"_

"Luna?"

Ash was expecting another rude remark but was welcomed with a surprisingly nice quietness. Ash glanced at Nidoran, to see her nodding her head so hard, he was afraid her horn will come flying off.

"Luna it is then." Ash confirmed. At that precise moment, a small movement caught Luna's eyes.

" _Nido!"_ Nidoran pointed at Aura excitedly. Ash swiftly made his way to Aura and watched as his friend made his first steps back to life. Aura tilted his head at Ash and slowly rose from his small bed.

Unable to control himself, Ash hugged Aura, desperately trying to hide the tears of joy. He didn't want Aura to see him cry because that would just make Aura worry even more about him. Ash didn't let go until Nurse Joy walked in to check how they were doing.

"I see Aura has woken up now," Nurse Joy interrupted the moment, "I hate to do this but now that he's awake, I would like to do a physical check-up on Aura."

Ash slowly let go of Aura and watched as Nurse Joy carried him away.

"You can come and watch too if you want," the nurse called out. Without taking a second thought, Ash and Nidoran ran after Aura for moral support. The small group made it outside to an empty battlefield. Nurse Joy placed Aura down and began checking his reflexes and heart rate. She then put a pen to the left side of Aura's face.

"Grab it Aura." the nurse said. Aura made a grab towards the pen and perfectly held it in his hands. Aura handed it back to Nurse Joy and this time, Nurse Joy held the pen to the right side of Aura's face. "Grab it now Aura."

Aura stared at Nurse Joy, confused by what she meant. To Aura, there was nothing to grab, but everyone can see the pen taunting Aura. Aura looked at Nurse Joy once more and saw that she was being completely serious. Aura slowly turned his head only for the mischievous pen to follow along. Aura looked back at the nurse, completely lost. He grabbed at the air, but that wasn't right. Slowly, Aura began to grow frustrated, using both hands to grab at everything around him. The look in Aura's eyes was beginning to become more hopeless as he couldn't find anything to grab.

Ash could not bare to look. The pain in him just grew heavier the harder Aura tried. Nidoran sat there quietly, not understanding what was going on but sensing the deep emotions from its trainer was enough to make her feel sad.

"Aura…" Nurse Joy whispered. She slowly moved the pen to Aura's line of sight and almost instantly Aura grabbed it out of her hands. He looked at Ash to see his approval but all he saw was the pained look of guilt.

"Aura… your right eye is blind." Nurse Joy gravely said. The Aura Pokemon threw his hand over his right eye, covering and uncovering it, testing to see if the nurse was telling the truth. "Aura, we must continue with the test. We will have time to discuss your future after the test."

Aura nodded his head in pure shock. He didn't even realized he was half blind until now. How was he going to protect Ash now? How can a blind pokemon protect its trainer?

"Aura, we are going to test the moves you know," the nurse said as she pulled a small scratch paper with the moves Aura knew, "I have the list of moves you are supposed to know after scanning you. Are they Foresight, Quick Attack, Endure and Agility?"

"You're forgetting Aura Sphere," Ash grew out of his despair. "He also knows Aura Sphere."

"Are you sure?" Nurse Joy asked, "I scanned him myself and it says Aura Sphere is not a move he knows."

Ash pulled out his PokeDex and scanned Aura again.

 _Riolu, the aura Pokemon. Type(s): Fighting_

 _Its body is little yet powerful. It can crest three mountains and cross two canyons in one_ _night._

 _Moves of the Current Pokemon:_

 _Foresight, Quick Attack, Endure, and Agility_

"I could've sworn he knows Aura Sphere," Ash asked incredulously, "Show us Aura, use Aura Sphere."

Aura looked at his trainer and gave an understanding nod. Closing his eyes, Aura strived to redeem himself by showing he is still able to fight. Holding his hand out, Aura focused on his surroundings, trying his hardest to feel the strength within him.

But he felt nothing.

Opening his eyes, Aura was half expecting to see the blue ball in hand, ready to launch at his will, but nothing was there. He shut his eyes and tried again and again and again. But every time he failed and failed and failed.

"It seems he lost his ability to control aura," Nurse Joy said sadly, "Let's just carry on with the rest of the test, and see where he's at."

In the next ten minutes, Aura was determined to have lost half his sight and his ability to control aura. Although everything about Aura was deemed as 'ok', all Ash could think about was how he ruined Aura's life. Aura was supposed to be an undefeated Champion among pokemon. Excelling at everything he did. All of it lost because Ash couldn't see a way to save Aura.

"If you want my personal opinion, I believe Aura should not be participating in Pokemon Battles anymore," Nurse Joy gave her input, "being half blind is already a large disadvantage but also unable to use your strongest trait in battle makes that disadvantage much larger."

Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing. Don't participate in Pokemon Battles?

"I'll leave you and Aura to talk about this." The nurse walked back into the center, leaving behind the broken fragments of a disabled Pokemon.

Silence fell among the group of three. Not really knowing on how to break the tension in the air, Ash walked up to Aura.

"Aura…" Ash called out. Aura hanged his head low. Not wanting his trainer to see his shame. "Aura look at me."

Ash kneeled beside Aura, while Nidoran followed close by to see what was going to happen.

"Look at me Aura." Ash said once more. Anger tore at Ash's chest once he saw Aura's tears. Ash caused this because he was weak. Ash wanted to quit his journey but after looking at the despair within Aura, what the blonde girl had said held some truth. He can not end his journey here. He can't because Aura wanted this journey, and to respect that he shouldn't end it here.

"Aura, we are not going to stop here." Ash said adamantly. "No, we are going to make it far. Yeah, you're half blind, but so am I. Together, with Nidoran and many more friends to come, we will be your eyes, but the real question is: will you be mine?"

Ash pulled out another PokeBall and offered it to Aura. Aura looked at his trainer and rubbed away his tears. He didn't care if he was blind or if he can't use his aura. If his trainer says that there was going to be a second chance, then there is going to be a second chance. Aura tapped the white button of the PokeBall and a red light consumed him.

Unknown to the small group, Professor Oak and the blonde girl stood behind the touching scene, glad that there was still hope.

 **So this is my first story. Um, I don't know how people will feel about this, but I hope you liked it? Please tell me about any mistakes you found in this. Uh. Thanks for reading?**

 **Oh! Also, if you're interested, Ash began his journey at the age of 13, I'll explain this later if I feel like writing. Just putting that out there...**


	2. Chapter 2

Serena couldn't believe it. The thought of Ash stopping his journey made her angry. Ash was not how Serena remembered him to be. He used to be so much more outgoing and adventurous, that it was hard for Serena to comprehend how much he has changed. But of course, that was before an incident at camp caused Ash to leave for home early.

Serena stomped out of the pokemon center, leaving Ash to think about his future. Sitting on the steps of the pokemon center, Serena dug into her backpack, pulling out a baby blue handkerchief with a small pokeball logo at the bottom corner. She held it tightly in her hands, remembering the short moment Ash and her had together, sighing as the memories flooded her heart.

Realizing how cringey she was being, Serena broke out of her trance and decided she needed a small stroll around the pokemon center. She came back to Kanto to visit Professor Oak, not fantasize about childhood crushes.

After hours of mindless walking around the pokemon center, the sun finally withdrew. As Serena booked a room for the night at the pokemon center, Serena couldn't help but notice the absence of Ash. Guilt coursed through Serena as the possibility of Ash already quitting his journey was because of her harshness towards him. But before Serena could search for Ash, a loud alarm rang throughout the building. Serena instinctively covered her ears, trying her best to keep the sound from getting any louder.

"Prepare for trouble," a young woman said after the alarm turned off.

"Make it double," a blue haired man appeared.

"To protect the world from devastation," the woman dramatically pointed at nothing.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," the man made a tight fist to his chest.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love," the woman placed a hand to her face as she looked up.

"To extend our reach to the stars above," the man did a similar pose to the woman as they were standing back to back.

"Jessie," the woman smirked.

"James," the man smiled.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! That's right!" a random Meowth appeared in between the duo as they struck a stupid pose. "Now give us all your pokemons!"

"Oh no, Team Rocket?" Nurse Joy cried, completely unfazed that there was a talking Meowth in front of her. "I'd better call-"

"Oh no you don't, Meowth Scratch the telephone line," James commanded. The Meowth ran forward and cut the line, making it impossible to make any more calls. Nurse Joy fell to the ground from the shock of almost getting harmed by the Meowth.

"Hey!" Serena ran to the nurse's side, helping her up to her feet. "What is up with you guys? This is a pokemon center, not a pokemon battle field."

"Well we're the bad guys, so anywhere we want is a pokemon battle field," Jessie pointed out. "Let's go boys, we got pokemons waiting for us."

"Stop right there," Serena and Nurse Joy stopped Team Rocket from advancing by standing in their way. "If you want the to steal these pokemons, you're gonna have to go through us. Sylveon, let's show them who's boss."

The pokeball was thrown into the air as Sylveon was released. It gracefully landed on the floor as it made its presence known.  
"Sylveon us-" before Serena could finish her command, Team Rocket threw a mechanical box over Sylveon. "What?"

"Ooooo, nice throw Meowth, the boss will totally love this one," Jessie complemented, "Anything else you want to give us?"

"Let's go to the power room," Nurse Joy said to Serena, "that's where the emergency phone and the rest of the pokemon are. We're safe there if we're behind the metal doors. Once we call Officer Jenny, she'll take care of things and get back your Sylveon."

"You think metal walls can stop Team Rocket? We're th- HEY!" Jessie screamed. Nurse Joy was already sprinting down the hall, with Serena following close behind. The duo safely made it to the power room, where Nurse Joy immediately locked the electric metal doors. From there she began making a call to Officer Jenny.

"Hello, Officer Jenny here, how may I help you?" the officer said.

"Oh Jenny, things aren't good here, we need you to come to the pokemon center," the nurse reported, "Team Rocket has targeted the pokemon center and now they want to steal all the pokemon here. They already stole a girl's Sylveon."

"Don't worry Nurse Joy, I'll be on my way with the rest of the police; while you're waiting, try to transfer all the pokemon to the nearest pokemon center," the officer quickly cancelled the call, preparing to make another trip to the pokemon center.

"Sorry what is your name sweetie?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Serena."

"Okay Serena, I need you to help me out," Nurse Joy asked, "could you move all those shelves full of pokeballs here. I'll send them to the nearest pokemon center while you're doing that."

Without a doubt, Serena began pushing the carts to Nurse Joy as she sent all the pokeballs somewhere else with inhuman speed. Suddenly, darkness came across the room as the familiar sound of a power outage was heard. The electric doors immediately opened as it was following safety rules.

"Did Team Rocket turn out the power?" Serena asked in despair. "What should we do now?"

"Worry not Serena, the pokemon center always has a backup plan," moving through the dark, Nurse Joy pulled out eight pokeballs from a the drawer. She threw them on the ground one by one, releasing small Pikachus. "Okay Pikachus, I can't see you but I know you're there."

A chorus of Pikas and Chus came from the small crowd.

"Awww, they sound so adorable, I wish I could just squeeze one," Serena giggled to herself.

"Alright Pikachus, this is operation blackout, I need you to set up the treadmills and start bringing power back to this place," Nurse Joy said, "while you're doing that, Serena and I will be hooking up the pokemon center on a generator. This will be enough time for Officer Jenny to arrive."

Two minutes into the brilliant plan was all it took to bring power back into the pokemon center. As the Pikachus did their magic, the electric doors closed up in the nick of time before Jessie, James or Meowth could make it to them.

"Open this door right now!" Meowth screamed from the other side of the door.

"No!" Serena shouted back as Nurse Joy made the final attachments to the generator.

"You little twerp! Open up right now," Jessie threatened.

"Or you'll regret it!" James added on. The group began all banging at the door, causing so much noise, even a Snorlax sleeping a mile away would've woken up.

"Hey Nurse Joy, I have a plan," Serena tried to say over the loud ruckus.

"What?" Nurse Joy asked.

"I have a plan!" Serena tried again.

"You have a what?" Nurse Joy tried to understand. The noise Team Rocket was making was too loud for the two girls to communicate with each other. "You have a pan?"

Serena inwardly facepalmed as she decided to just carry through with her plan. She walked over to the group of worn out Pikachus who were covering their ears and kneeled down beside them.

"Hey Pikachus, could you help me with something?" Serena asked. Miraculously, the Pikachus picked up on what she said.

" _Pika Pika!"_ they sat up and nodded their heads, ready to do whatever it took to stop the noise.

"Awww you guys are too cute," Serena picked up a Pikachu and gave it a small hug. "Anyways! All of you guys know Thundershock right?"

Another chorus of 'Pika Pika's made Serena faint a little on the inside.

"Okay good, once I open the door, I'm gonna need you guys to bust out the strongest Thundershock you guys could muster," Serena explained, "You got it?"

The Pikachus all agreed and put their hands together for a small cheer. Serena's hand twitched in pain as she held back her urge to kiss the Pikachus. Making her way to the large green button, Serena allowed the trio to come tumbling in.

"Wait Serena!" Nurse Joy tried to stop Serena, not understanding what she was planning to do.

"Oh, the door opened," James rubbed his head.

"What the heck is your head made out of?!" Meowth yelled at James. "Thanks for hitting my head."

"Get your claws off my chest Meowth!" Jessie screamed.

"Oi, sorry! Didn't mean that," Meowth let go of Jessie's breast. Jessie, flustered and angered, slapped Meowth across the face.

"Uh, guys" James pointed at the group of overcharged Pikachus.

"That's a lot of Pikachus," Meowth gaped.

"Close your eyes Nurse Joy," Serena quickly closed her eyes shut as she threw her hands over Nurse Joy's eyes, in case she wasn't able to close her eyes in time. A bright light blew up across the room as an intense bolt of lightning struck the trio.

"PIKA CHUUU!" the group of Pikachus bursted, giving everything they had to defend their pokemon center. The trio was blasted out the room, towards the exit of the building.

"Team Rocket is blasting off!" the triplets screamed as they disappeared into the sky. The small group of Pikachus cheered as they felt that they were more than successful in their plan. What was supposed to be a victorious moment was actually the worst feeling Serena has felt in her life. She was so caught up in saving the pokemon center, she totally forgot about trying to save her Sylveon.

Before Serena could go out and look for her Sylveon, the rest of the police force and Officer Jenny already surrounded the pokemon center.

"Stop where you are Team Rocket," an officer shouted to her. Serena quickly held her hands up, not wanting to cause any trouble.

After clearing up the misunderstanding of believing Serena was a part of Team Rocket and much questioning, it was well past midnight.

"How's Ash doing?" Officer Jenny asked Serena.

"Ash? I-I'm not really sure," Serena sheepishly said, "we didn't really have the most pleasant of conversations."

"You know Ash?" Nurse Joy butted in.

"Uh yeah, we go way back," Serena somewhat lied. It was more one sided than the two ladies thought.

"I hope he gets over it soon," the officer worried. "Well I should be heading back now, try to at least stay out of trouble for the night, at least till morning alright?"

"Wait! Officer Jenny," Serena called out. "Team Rocket was able to steal one of my pokemons, it was a female Sylveon. I'm really worried for her and-"

"I'll keep my eyes peeled," Officer Jenny reassured, "I'll also ask some of the other policemen to have a search around the area. I'm sure they'll find her. For now, just have a nights rest."

Reluctantly, Serena obliged with what the officer recommended and reentered the pokemon center. Grabbing the key given to her earlier in the day, she found her room and beelined towards the bathroom for a warm shower, wanting to wash away the stress she built up over Sylveon. Was this how Ash felt when he thought he was going to lose Riolu? But instead of Team Rocket being the gap between his pokemon, it was the face of death and his inadequate skills as a new trainer? Regret and stress slowly nagged at Serena's tired mind. Pokemon are meant to get hurt in battle, but they don't deserve to experience death. That was something Serena overlooked. As she began to put more thought into her mistakes, she realized that she had no right whatsoever in saying that to Ash. She was a pokemon performer after all, specializing in fashion and beauty, never having to worry about serious fights and injuries. While a pokemon trainer had to fight to make it to the top, creating such a tight bond between the trainer and pokemon that no other pokemon jobs could even come close to replicating.

Drowsiness tugged at Serena's eyes, as she dropped on to the bed. Before she could continue to ponder her problems, she was fast asleep.

* * *

It was sunny morning as the sun graced the world with warmth. Serena was already out near the border of the city, searching desperately for her loss Sylveon. She already checked with the police station and the police have yet to return with her Sylveon. Saying they searched all night and another squad was out right now searching for Sylveon.

"Where are you Sylveon…" Serena sadly muttered as she continued her search. How would her mother think of this? Will she see her as an irresponsible 14 year old who can't keep her pokemons safe? How would Professor Oak feel about this? This was the Eevee the professor gave to her as a birthday gift before she left Pallet Town.

Serena sat on the ground, defeated after wasting her entire morning in a futile search. Her stomach growled as it reminded her that she skipped breakfast to try and find Sylveon. As she returned to the pokemon center, temporarily putting a halt to her search, Serena began eating her fill of lunch. She picked out a chicken salad as it was the only thing left in the pokemon center.

"Hey Serena," a pink haired woman called out to her, "I'm a bit busy right now with all the trainers I'm talking to about their pokemons being transferred to another pokemon center, and I'm a bit worried for Ash. He's been in the Emergency Room for almost the whole day now and he hasn't eaten yet. Since you've known him for a while, would you be so kind as to give this to him?"

Serena stared at the plate of bacon and eggs, deciding whether she should eat it herself instead of giving it to Ash.

"Sure," Serena agreed. She picked up the food and placed it near her plate. "I'll give it to him after I'm finished eating."

"Thank you so much," Nurse Joy said.

"Mhm," Serena said in between bites of her own meal.

While eating, Serena was clouded with thoughts of where her Sylveon may have went. It's been a whole day and her Sylveon has yet to be seen. Where could she be? She couldn't have gone anywhere far, she was stuck in a box. The thought of Sylveon stuck in a tight humid box made her want to puke the bacon she just ate. She couldn't bare the thought of how her precious Sylveon must feel…

Bacon?

Serena realized she was eating Ash's meal and she was not regretting it at all. The bacon gave her the energy she needed, not those skimpy green leaves. She stole another strip of bacon before deciding to finally find Ash in the Emergency Room.

Upon entering the large, white, double doors, it wasn't hard to find the sleeping Ash. He was sleeping on a chair with his head down and his body in a extremely awkward position. She decided to place the food on the chair next to him and leave but the thought of Ash not seeing the food and accidentally knocking over the plate made her not want to waste some perfectly good bacon.

Cursing her good and biased nature towards Ash, Serena found a small foldable table at the corner of the room. They were there to hold medical tools for real doctors and nurses. Setting up the table, Serena put the plate of food before Ash. She observed the table and decided it was too close for Ash.

She moved the table a few inches back. Now it was too far.

She moved the table a few inches closer. Now it was too close again.

She continued to move the table back and forth, unable to find the perfect spot.

"You know, the more noise you make from moving the table, the more likely Ash is going to wake up," someone said behind Serena. Startled, Serena shook the table in her hands, dropping a piece of bacon to the floor. A blue Nidoran bolted to the piece of bacon, gobbling it up in a split second before Serena could pick it up. "Hehe, you're quite the eater Nidoran."

Serena recognized that voice, she spun around to see her old teacher, Professor Oak.

"Professor Oak? What are you doing here?" Serena asked.

"It's good to see you Serena," the professor remarked. He was holding a metal bowl and a large sack of pokemon food. "I'm here to check up on Ash. He got into a brutal mess with some haughty Spearows and his mother would've killed me if I didn't check up on him."

Professor Oak quietly put the bowl down and gently poured some pokemon food into it.

"After Ash caught his first pokemon, I didn't really get the time to look at the what he had caught," Professor Oak began, "Now that I'm here, I thought it would be a good time to see his pokemons. Aura, he's the Riolu incase you didn't know, seems to be in pretty bad shape. I worry for him. Maybe I expected to much from him too."

The professor had a grim look on his face. He thought Ash was prepared for anything but he thought wrong. To make things better, the professor hoped to give a few words of encouragements to Ash.

"His Nidoran seems to be quite large too," Professor Oak moved on, "but it lacks the poison its species would usually have. I find it hard that this Nidoran may have a strong future in battles too."

Serena was clenching her fist. Professor Oak was a smart person, and everything he said was completely true. But she hated how much he was underestimating Ash. Ash just had a mix up of some bad luck, and because of this bad luck, he needs some support.

"But don't get me wrong, I trust he'll make it work," Professor Oak read her mind, "Now enough of Ash, how about you Serena? How has four years in the pokemon world treated you?"

"It's been okay professor," Serena twirled her hair nervously. In all honesty, it wasn't so great. Serena was visiting Kanto not only to revisit old childhood memories but to also ask for some advice from Professor Oak. After suffering such a huge loss in the final round of her Master Class, she was devastated, seeing as she can't find any way to improve her performing skills. "I actually came here to find so-"

"Oh! I almost forgot," the professor remembered, completely ignoring Serena, "I found your Sylveon on my way here! I was really sur-"

As Professor Oak began to talk, a pink feline pushed its way through the white doors. It took one glance at Serena before leaping into her arms, reunited with its partner.

"I worried so much about you Sylveon!" the performer squealed. It was her turn to interrupt Professor Oak. "I thought you were going to be gone forever."

"Um, let us talk outside shall we? We don't want to wake up Ash," the professor tried to quiet down the energetic girl.

"How did you find her professor? How did you even know it was mine?" Serena questioned as they made their way to the exit.

"Nidoran, finish your food and stay here with Ash... uh, when I was on my way here it just ran towards me," Professor Oak explained, "I didn't understand what was happening until I passed by Officer Jenny and she told me about you losing a pokemon to Team Rocket."

"Thank you so much professor, I can't imagine Sylveon gone," Serena admitted.

"You have to be careful Serena, Team Rocket are quite the criminals. That's why after a year into your journey, they changed the age from 10 to at least 13," the professor recalled.

"I promise I'll be more careful," Serena said as she hugged her Sylveon closer. Her Sylveon purred in happiness and licked her cheek. With a giggle, Serena pulled out Sylveon's pokeball and recalled her to the safety of the pokeball. "Hey Professor Oak… I-I need some help."

"Hm? What kind of help?" the professor listened, ready to do anything that he can.

"I'm at a wall," Serena blatantly admitted, "after the master class finals, I gave it my all. I really did, but I still lost. And I know I shouldn't let it get to me but I can't seem to improve at all now. And I'm afraid I won't ever be able to even make it back to the master class."

The professor was quiet for a minute, thinking hard on what his student was saying. What Professor Oak was going to say was something Serena was not expecting. She was expecting to hear something about pokemons and how you could improve your performances by teaching your pokemon a variety of different moves or something along that line.

"I remember seeing you cry after your loss," Professor Oak said simply. The day Serena loss, she was bitter. She hated how she came so close to winning but ended up losing. Because of her loss, she was not able to qualify for the next master class performance. "I think it would be most beneficial if you travelled with Ash,"

"Huh?" Serena was confused. How was that going to help her?

"Now you might be wondering how this is going to help you," Professor read her mind once more. "In all honesty, I don't really know."

Serena mentally facepalmed when she heard her teacher's reasoning. For being one of the more famous professors, he was quite clueless.

"But from past experiences as a trainer, you have to have that tight bond with your pokemon," the professor started to make some sense, "And by travelling with Ash, you could learn a thing or two."

"I hate to sound like a party pooper professor, but Ash's bond with his pokemon doesn't really seem to be looking too bright," Serena pointed out. She was slightly annoyed that Professor Oak wasn't able to give a more concrete answer. Plus, learn from Ash? As cute as he was when they were kids, how was she, a 4 year traveller of the pokemon world, going to learn from a rookie who got hurt on his first day.

"Now now, don't be doubting Ash, there's more to him when you look close enough," the professor reminded her. At that moment, Serena realized how much of a hypocrite she was acting. Earlier she was angry as Professor Oak because he was undermining the potential Ash has, but here she is now, claiming that Ash has nothing to offer because he was a rookie. "Speaking about Ash, there he is!"

Serena quickly turned around to see Nurse Joy holding a Riolu, with Ash and Nidoran following them. Serena tried to call out to them, but Professor Oak made her keep quiet.

"Don't call out to Ash, Serena," Professor Oak said, "Just watch."

The teacher and student followed the group to an empty pokemon battle field.

"Nurse Joy is about to start a physical test for Riolu," Professor Oak explained, "Unknown to them, not only is that Riolu blind but it can also no longer use it's aura. Such a shame."

Serena was taken aback. A Riolu or Lucario who can no longer use aura was unheard of. It's like saying a Horsea who can't swim.

"I've examined the x-rays of the Riolu, and it must have gotten hit on the back of the head, maybe it fell on a rock or something," the professor wondered, "I'm no neurologist, but I do know that Riolus and Lucarios control aura using a section located in the back of their brain. To make things short, Ash's Riolu damaged the back of his brain, to the point of it being unable to control aura anymore."

The hidden pair observed the test from afar, making their presence unknown as they continued to watch.

"So how do you think Ash is going to take this?" Professor Oak asked.

"He'll be heartbroken." Serena said sadly. She waited for a response from the professor but he did not respond. She glanced at her teacher to see a small smirk across his face, as if she was going to be proved wrong.

"When you go up there to talk with him, I need you to give him this," the professor pulled out a Pokemon League hat, "Ash forgot to pick it up when he left. His mother wanted me to give it to him."

"Why not give it to him yourself?" Serena asked.

"Because I'm leaving," the professor said, already getting ready to mount his Dragonite, "see you around Serena!"

The professor gracefully soared into the evening air back to Pallet Town, leaving Serena alone. Deciding to not question her teacher's motives, Serena slowly walked towards Ash and overheard the surprisingly strong words of encouragement.

"No, we are going to make it far," Ash said resolutely, "Yeah, you're half blind, but so am I. Together, with Nidoran and many more friends to come, we will be your eyes, but the real question is: will you be mine?"

The aura pokemon seemed to be trying its best to hide its tears before accepting the pokeball. A red glow surrounded the Riolu before it reunited with Ash.

Serena was surprised. She was expecting Ash to comfort his pokemon while the pain ate away at him, but instead, she mistook him as herself while he continued to move on. A familiar feeling in her chest was telling her that this was the Ash she remembered. The Ash that found her lost in the woods. The Ash who covered her scraped knee with the same handkerchief she carries around as a goodluck charm. The Ash who held her hand to comfort her. The Ash who took a Rattata's Hyper Fang to the eye just to keep her safe.

Serena made her way behind the Nidoran's trainer, gently smiling to herself. She held the hat by its bill and gently placed it over the raven haired boy.

Ash turned around, startled by the sudden pressure over his head.

"Oh, it's just you," Ash noticed.

"Sorry," Serena apologized stiffly, "about yesterday. I didn't mean to come off as too mean or demoralizing."

"It's okay," Ash said. "Thank you for helping me and Aura out. Don't know what would've happened if you didn't show up."

Ash felt shivers as hard possibilities and ugly outcomes came into thought. Without Serena's help, Ash may not have Aura by his side.

"Aura? Is that what you call your Riolu?" Serena asked. "I don't really give nicknames to my pokemons. Did you give one to your Nidoran yet?"

"Yeah, her name is Luna," Ash responded, "Luna because it takes a Moon Stone to evolve Nidoran. And Luna is just another way of saying Moon."

"That's cool." Serena said.

An awkward silence settled into the air as the couple didn't know what to talk about. Taking this as a cue, Ash recalled Luna and began making his way back to the pokemon center.

"Oh! By the way, what's your name?" Ash asked. Ash felt that the least he can do is remember her name after she saved Aura's life.

"Huh?" Serena was completely baffled, this whole time, Ash didn't know her name? "You don't remember me from Professor Oak's Summer Camp?"

"Uh, sorry," Ash said. He rubbed his temples as he felt that he was supposed to know this girl's name, "I don't really remember much."

"Well, my name is Serena, does that ring any sort of bells in your head?" Serena initiated.

"Oh! You were the girl who always cried after every event!" Ash said bluntly, "Yeah I remember you."

Fortunately, it was nearly dark, hiding her flustered and embarrassed cheeks. So much for jogging Ash's memories, he remembered a little bit too much.

"What happened to your eye?" Serena asked. Although she already knew the answer to that question, she wanted to see if Ash remembered it was her that he protected.

"My eye? I got it when I was attacked by a Rattata one day. I don't really remember much about that day. I'd prefer not now that I think about it." Ash said normally. There was no hint of anger or sadness, just his regular voice.

"Well, it was nice seeing you Serena," Ash began walking away.

"Wait!" Serena randomly called out. Panic surged through her as she struggled to find a reason as to why he called out. "I-I-I, um, needed to ask you something…"

Ash continued to stare at her, listening to what she wanted to ask.

"Er, I was wondering if you'll be okay if I tagged along on your pokemon journey. You see I'm a Pokemon Performer and I also travel a lot, "Serena began to rant. She put herself on the spot and now she was forced to take up Professor Oak's advice, "I'm also planning to do the master class performance in Kanto this year and I thought, oh, why not travel with someone. And you now, because we have some small history together, I was thinking why not travel along with an old friend and whatnot…?"

"Sure." Ash said plainly. "It'll be nice to have someone else to talk to when we're on the road."

"Okay, sounds fun," Serena smiled in relief, "I have my first performance in Cerulean City, about four weeks from now. So anywhere we go before that is okay with me."

"I was planning on reaching Pewter City through Viridian Forest," Ash explained his plan, "then making it to Mt. Moon for Cerulean City. I'm sure we can get there in four weeks."

"Mhm, sounds like a great plan," Serena agreed. In reality, it was a horrible plan in Serena's mind. Viridian Forest was one of the largest forest the Kanto region has, and the thought of venturing through the forest gave Serena the chills. "I'll meet you at the front of the Pokemon Center. You better pack your stuff and be there by twelve."

The two walked back to the pokemon center, discussing vital things that may be needed in case of emergencies.

"Hey, I was wondering, how did you get a hold of my hat?" Ash suddenly asked. "I thought I left it at home."

"Oh, Professor Oak secretly came to check up on you and asked me to give you your hat," Serena answered. "Well, I'm beat. I'll catch you tomorrow!"

Ash waved back as Serena turned the corner. As Ash walked to his room, he closely inspected 'his' hat. This wasn't his hat. He noticed a small, white piece of paper hidden in his cap. He pulled it out to see a price tag with the official Pokemon League symbol.

Ash silently laughed at Professor Oak as he was still a horrible liar.

 **Welp. Uh, I'm kind of surprised people actually read this. It kind of motivated me to write. I hope you guys don't mind me switching up the omniscient point of view for this chapter. I would like to only do this when introducing a new character. I just feel that it's easier and smoother this way (Taking the easy way out man). So, erm, yeah.**


	3. Chapter 3

The morning fog clung to the small group of three as they made their way to an open field near Viridian Forest. Ash would normally never do this, but because he hasn't formally introduced the newest member to the team, Ash felt obliged to do so as soon as possible. Plus, it was Ash's first catch as a trainer, so he made sure nobody was following him during his special moment.

Pulling out two pokeballs that held the members to his team, Ash released Aura and Luna.

"Hey guys," Ash said as he rubbed his still tired eye, "I just wanted to make sure you guys were comfortable with each other. We didn't really meet at the most perfect of moments."

Aura nodded sadly as he remembered the pain he went through.

"So Luna," Ash began, "welcome to the team. It's just Aura and I for now."

Luna stared at her two new friends, finding it scary how similar Ash and Aura's lifeless eye were. She walked up to Aura and examined his now gray, blind eye. Something about it made Aura appear more intimidating. Nonetheless, Luna nipped at Aura affectionately, and held her head out at Aura's chest; a common action to display sympathy for the young fighting pokemon.

A surprised Aura didn't understand what to do. Standing there awkwardly, Aura began to slowly walk away, unfamiliar with the Nidoran's culture. This only caused Luna to walk forward with her uncontrolled strength, knocking down Aura to his feet.

Luna looked at Aura's embarrassed face and began snorting in laughter. Aura wasn't as mean as she thought she was. He battlescarred on the outside, but on the inside, he still a baby. Aura pouted in anger as he was being laughed at. He stared at Ash for support, but only found his trainer holding in a small giggle. Betrayed by his teammate and trainer, the Riolu turned his back to them in a haughty expression, only causing his team to giggle even more.

Before Aura knew it, he too began to giggle for no reason. Why were they laughing? The silly group sat in pain as they tried to control their laughing fit.

"Okay, that's enough," Ash smiled merrily, "we need to plan out what we're gonna do from here."

The group settled down and began to plan out what they wanted to do.

"Okay," Ash said as he saw that his pokemons were ready to listen, "I hope you guys are okay with my goal of wanting to be a Pokemon Master. That means that we're going to have a lot of pokemon battles."

Aura nodded his head once more, already knowing this since the start of their journey. Luna looked at Ash with a determined look. This was the reason why she challenged Ash and Aura to a pokemon battle. To be caught and become a stronger than the rest of her family.

"Good, you guys are on the same boat as I am," Ash approved, "but to get there we need to first win the Indigo League. To get to the Indigo League we need to we need to first collect all eight badges to participate. The first 256 trainers to obtain eight badges will be the trainers picked to go to the Indigo League. Any extras will be allowed in the following Indigo League next year. Good thing the year just started, so we have plenty of time."

Aura understood all the information given to him, while Luna stared on in space as words came into her ear and out the other. As long as she got stronger was all Luna cared about, and what Ash was saying sounded like a royal beatdown of pokemon fights, so all was well for Luna.

"I've done some research in the gym battles," Ash explained, "and the difficulty of a gym battle depends on the amount of badges you have. Because we have zero, the first gym battle will definitely be doable. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but it won't be our hardest fight."

Ash slowly rose to his feet as he pulled out his PokeDex .

"I kind of want to start training a little but before we start," Ash quickly scanned Luna, wanting to see where Luna stood as a pokemon.

Nidoran (female), the poison pin Pokemon. Type(s): Poison

Small and very docile, it protects itself with its small, poisonous horn when attacked.

Moves of the Current Pokemon:

Tackle, Growl, Scratch, Tail Whip and Double Kick

"Double Kick?" Ash read. "But no Poison Sting. Not surprising since there's no poison in Luna."

Ash turned his attention back to his two teammates; formulating and rough idea on how they were going to tackle the gym battle.

"Alright guys, from what I've seen from our first battle, we definitely need to work on some speed," Ash began, "Aura is way too fast for his own good, while Luna is slower than expected."

Ash's pokemon looked at each other in embarrassment as their trainer noted one of their many weaknesses.

"The first gym leader, Brock, specializes on rock type pokemons," Ash said, "and just because they're rocks doesn't mean they're slow. So we're gonna learn on how to control our speed and how to increase our speed."

Aura and Luna cheered as they were finally going to start training. This was going to be the first step in their path to victory.

"Alright, Aura, I'm gonna have you do something called Pacers but it's gonna be a little bit different," Ash smiled cheerfully, "we're gonna make a dirt path from point A to point B, and your job is to make sure you stay on that path after each lap."

Aura stared at Ash in confusion. He didn't know what the Arceus Ash was saying. Pacers? Aura looked at Luna, expecting the older pokemon to know what Pacers were. Luna just gave a small shrug and looked at Ash, waiting for an explanation.

"Hm? You guys don't know what pacers are?" Ash questioned. "It's when you have a timer, or usually a beeper. And whenever the beeper beeps, you have to run to the other side before the beeper for the next lap goes off."

The aura pokemon stared at Ash, barely understanding a thing Ash said. Ash looked at Luna, hoping she would at least know the gist of the exercise. The poor poison pokemon was scratching her head just trying to understand what a beeper was.

"Okay, Aura, I'll get back to you," Ash turned to look at the hopeless Nidoran, "Luna, we need to make you are up to par with your speed, so we're going to have you run a little bit."

Luna jumped up, slightly happy that she could understand her exercise. It was just running, nothing so bad about it.

"So, you see that boulder over there," Ash pointed at a large slab of stone jutting out of the ground. It was quite large so it was easily spotted by Luna. "I'm going to need you to run there and back to my… backpack right here."

Ash placed his backpack a few yards from where he was standing. The distance from his backpack to the stone slab seem to be a good twenty yards away, long enough for Luna to find a good pace.

"You got it Luna? Luna? Lun- Hey!" Ash shouted as Luna began bounding towards the boulder, "I wasn't done giving instructions yet!"

Luna ignored her trainer and kept at making her way to the boulder. Ash gave an audible sigh before giving up on Luna for the moment. He turned back to face Aura to try and get him to understand his exercise.

"Okay Aura, listen up, maybe before I try to explain things, maybe it's best if I taught you by example," Ash decided. He walked a few yards away and began pulling the grass out of the ground. "First, help me make a dirt path. We're not gonna stop until I saw so alright?"

As Ash and Aura began digging out a dirt path, a happy Luna came bounding back towards her trainer.

"Nido!" she said proudly. Luna felt a sense of pride for completely her exercise before Aura. Does this make her the strongest Pokemon on Ash's team? Luna jumped in joy as she assumed she was now the strongest on the team.

"Luna…" Ash grunted. He fell over as he pulled out a specifically tough plant. Suddenly, the plant's roots wrapped around Ash's forearm, draining away at his energy. "What the heck?"

Aura noticed the danger his trainer was in and quickly ripped the roots off of Ash. By cupping his hands together, Aura squeezed the roots into a small ball before chucking it twenty yards away.

A small Bellsprout popped out from where the ball of roots landed. It angrily stared at Ash and wiggled its pathetic arms at him accusingly. It then turned to taunt Aura but fear struck its roots. One look at Aura's dead eye and the plant was bolting away.

Aura turned to look at Ash, confused as to why the pokemon ran away. He thought they were going to have another battle but the wild pokemon fled instead.

"It's alright Aura, next time alright," Ash reassured. He found it quite odd that a wild pokemon would run away from a little Aura who was only a month old. And it wasn't like Aura's ability was Intimidate, so what gives? "Help me finish this path Aura so we can get you started soon."

Aura followed Ash's instructions while Luna sat there, oblivious to everything that just happened.

"Nido?" Luna called out once more.

"Oh! Sorry, I forgot you were waiting for us," Ash admitted, "Uh, just keep running laps as fast as you can to the boulder and here. Don't stop until I say so."

Luna nodded in understanding, happy to have such as easy task again. She began to make her way towards the boulder.

"As fast as you can Luna! No slacking!" Ash yelled out. The large Nidoran upped her speed and began running "Alright, let's get down to business Aura..."

* * *

After explaining the basic concept of Pacers to Aura, Aura finally understood why he was doing this. Not only will he be learning to control some of his speed but he will also be getting use to judging distances with his one eye.

Ash stood there as he timed Aura's laps, decreasing the amount of time to finish a lap after each lap. He looked back at Luna to see her maintaining a fast pace. Well, fast for Luna at least. Ash also took notice as to how much stamina Luna has. She was able to start running half an hour earlier than Aura and she was still running at the same speed.

Meanwhile, Aura was failing miserably. He would always run past the endpoints of the lap and he was barely staying on the dirt path.

"Aura, come over here for a second," Ash called out to the fighting pokemon. Aura looked at Ash with a bit of disappointment before jogging his way to Ash. "Hey, instead of trying to go as fast as you can, just try to get a feel for your speed. You know? Like just go at a speed you're comfortable with maintaining and slowly build your way to a faster pace."

Aura nodded in understanding. WIth a pat on the head from Ash, Aura returned to the dirt path to try and overcome his disability.

Ash stood there once again, watching Luna and Aura work themselves until heat from the morning sun began to feel unbearable. At the same time, Ash couldn't help but feel like a backseat driver. Here he was telling his pokemons what to do, but all he was doing was standing like the boulder Luna was running to. Noting his lack of motivation, Ash decided to make sure he was doing something productive during the next training session.

"Are you guys tired?" Ash looked at his PokeDex for time. His Pokemons have been doing simple running exercises for the past hour and they were already beat.

Luna and Aura both nodded their heads, too tired to respond to Ash with their respective voices. Ash pulled out two bottles of water from his backpack and handed it to the two tired pokemon.

"Here you go guys. You deserve it," Ash said honestly, "but c'mon, it's not good for you guys to just sit there after running. C'mon, walk around the field with me."

The two groaned in disagreement with Ash's plan, but finally stood up and ran after Ash, who was already walking away.

"Today we just did a lot of running, which doesn't seem helpful in pokemon battles but it is," Ash reflected, "Professor Oak taught me that the mistake a lot of rookie trainers like me do is that they tend to try and teach moves to their pokemon whose body are not quite ready to handle yet."

The small group just about finished walking their intended distance before Ash continued his small pokemon lesson.

"That's why it's near impossible for a Squirtle to learn Hydro Pump," Ash recalled his studies, "the force from a real Hydro Pump would knock the Squirtle back, and because it's still young, a Squirtle could damage it's own shell."

Aura and Luna were trying their hardest to try and keep up with what Ash was saying but they couldn't help but find how boring half the stuff Ash said. But nonetheless, it will be a good thing to try and understand how the world of pokemon works and that was what kept the pokemon duo from falling asleep.

"That's why evolution is extremely important too, cause it not only gives pokemon access to a larger variety of moves, but it also gives them specific characteristics that allows them to use the move," Ash branched off of his initial subject, "but evolution is only good when done correctly so th- huh?"

Ash looked around him and found neither of his two pokemons beside him. Confused, Ash turned around to see Aura and Luna sleeping. Smiling, Ash recalled them to their pokeballs, while keeping another note to not geek out in front of his pokemons ever again.

* * *

After cleaning up his mess, Ash made it back to the pokemon center. He gave his pokemons to Nurse Joy to make sure they are well rested before they left. Taking a glance at his PokeDex, there was still another hour to spare before he was to meet up with Serena. With a quick meal and some small talk with Nurse Joy, Ash retrieved his pokemon and waited patiently by the entrance of the pokemon center.

"Oi! You're here already?" A surprised Serena appeared, "I didn't even eat breakfast yet!"

"You didn't eat breakfast yet?" Ash's eyes widened, "Even I woke up on time, and that's saying something."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, cut me some slack, I'll be ready after I'm done eating," Serena slouched away.

Ash sat there waiting for Serena, not knowing how to spend his awkward time. Instead of pondering about the world's existence, Ash figured it would be more productive to think of a better way of training his pokemon other than running. As great as running is when it comes to exercise, it isn't really a training method. Using his knowledge that Professor Oak bestowed to him for good use, Ash came to a conclusion that only more battle experience can really help his team at this point in time.

"Ready!" Serena said, with her mouth full. She gave out a hefty gulp and sighed in relief, covering her mouth to hide the small burp that also escaped her mouth.

"You're done eating already? It's only been like 2 minutes," Ash asked skeptically.

"Yeah, of course I'm done," Serena said, "C'mon what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

Serena quickly walked out the doors, expecting Ash to follow her, but instead a large plastic bowl usually used to hold salad fell out of Serena's unzipped bag. It rolled towards Ash's feet before she could snatch up the bowl. Ash picked up the warm bowl and observed its insides. It was full of steaming bacon, ready to burst with flavor once eaten.

"Hey!" Someone shouted from the pokemon center's food court, "Why is the bacon tray full of salad?"

"What happened to the rest of the bacon?" Another person shouted.

Serena grabbed the bacon out of Ash's hand and began running out the pokemon center.

"Aye! Wait up!" Ash rushed after Serena, "I want some too!"

* * *

Ash and Serena were gasping for air as they finally made it to the entrance of Viridian Forest. The duo sprinted away from the pokemon center which resulted in their sore legs.

"W… Why'd y-you steal the bacon?" Ash questioned in between breaths.  
"Because... they were all I can think about last night," Serena admitted sheepishly, "they taste so good."

Serena opened the plastic bowl and pulled out a strip. She opened her up widely before chewing the bacon to death.

"Do you really like bacon that much?" Ash asked.

"Yup. It's the one of the things that'll lead to my heart," Serena winked at Ash. She turned around before she became red and walked into the forest.

"Well, you better hold onto your bacon, you don't want a Pikachu snatching it from you," Ash said obliviously, completely unaware of the hint. Serena slightly facepalmed as she realized what she said went completely over Ash's head.

The pair continued down a dirt path paved throughout Viridian Forest, stopping only for small breaks to drink water or eat bacon. Every time a sip of water was taken, or a bite of bacon eaten, grass could be seen shuffling about in the corner of Ash and Serena's eyes.

"Did you see that?" Ash whispered to Serena as he slowly drank, "What is it?"

"I don't know…" Serena quietly ate the bacon, taking smaller bites to make her eating seem less audible, "some wild pokemon maybe?"

Suddenly, a large scream of agony pitched out into the air. A large figure in samurai armor came bounding out of the tall grass. The look in his eyes held fear and hatred as he made his way to Ash and Serena. Upon closer inspection, the samurai appeared to be extremely beaten up; he was missing his shoulder pads and the horns on this helmet.

"You kids have to get out here," the Samurai grabbed Ash and Serena by their hands, pulling them away.

"What? Hey, let go of us," Ash commanded, "you're making Serena drop some of her bacon."

"We have to go before Team Rocket hurts anyone else," the Samurai spoke to himself.

Ash jerked his hand free from the Samurai and pulled Serena, making the Samurai let go of Serena.

"Not cool Mr. Samurai dude, I lost some good bacon," Serena scolded. She quickly pulled out the lid and covered her bacon before anymore can fall out. Taking extra care of her bacon, Serena decided to gently place her bacon in her backpack, safe and sound.

"What's this about Team Rocket?" Ash questioned the Samurai, "What are they up to now?"

"Nothing good, I need to get you kids out of here before they hurt you too," the Samurai blurted out, "What they were doing, was… was horrible."

"What were they doing?" Serena asked. The Samurai instead tried to beg for them to leave the forest. "C'mon Ash, let's go check what's going on out th-"

Another scream can be heard back from where the Samurai appeared. This time the scream sounded more pokemon-like than an actual human.

Alerted, Ash and Serena glanced at each other and somehow communicated with just that one look. They both ran towards the tall grass to see what was happening. After pushing through a few branches, the pair made it to the edge of the grass, successfully avoiding the Samurai, and hidden from anybody's line of sight. They spotted a large black helicopter and seven men and women in Team Rocket Uniforms.

"Heh, look at this stupid Pikachu," Team Rocket Member #1 smirked. "So pathetic."

"Look at it, it's still trying to fight back," Team Rocket Member #2 smiled in glee. This specific member seemed to be a woman.

"HEY! Stop that right now!" a familiar voice yelled from the helicopter, "You've hurt it enough, let's just get out of here before that stupid Samurai gets us in trouble."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you say loser Jessie," Team Rocket Member #2 laughed, "we still stole more pokemon than you, which makes us better than you. Know your place."

Team Rocket Member #1 and #2 laughed even louder than before, taunting Jessie. The 2 Rocket Members slowly walked towards the helicopter, to expose a near beaten to death Pikachu. It's cries of vengeance were mistaken as groans of pains by Ash and Serena. Ash tried to rise to stop the criminals before they he was held back by the Samurai.

"What do you think you're doing?" The Samurai hissed.

"We're gonna stop those criminals," Ash declared.

"They have a cold Cloyster and one mean looking Primeape, and probably more too," the Samurai argued, "they are not people beginners want to mess with."

"Yeah Ash, as much as it hurts me to see that Pikachu, Samurai's got a point," Serena agreed. "And my pokemon are not cut out for battle either. Trainers and Performers are much more different than you think."

Ash seemed to have some internal struggle before finally clearing his mind and seeing how irrational he was being. Laying back low, the three decided it was best to sit and wait until Team Rocket left.

Minutes passed before the crime group left. They flew off in their helicopter, not before giving the Pikachu another kick and taunt. When the helicopter was gone from sight, the triplet ran towards the injured Pikachu, only to be beaten by a female Pikachu and a group of Pichus. The small family surrounded the male Pikachu, crying in sadness for their patriarch. They sat there mourning, and listening to the injured Pikachu's words.

"Oh no…" the Samurai teared up slightly.

"Is it going to die?" Serena worriedly asked. She didn't want the Pikachu to die; it had a family to take care of, and because of Team Rocket, it might not be able to make it out to live another day. "We sho-"

"It's not going to die," Ash said firmly. He grabbed an empty pokeball and captured the yellow rodent, ignoring the surprise and protest from the family. Picking up the pokeball, Ash ripped out his PokeDex and searched for the closest exit to the nearest pokemon center. "It's not going to die because I won't let it."

Ash's PokeDex dinged, signifying that it has found the quickest route to a pokemon center. Without another thought, Ash began running, keeping in mind what Professor Oak had once taught him before.

"Hey professor, is it true that pokemon are stuck in pokeballs? Like they never grow old or wrinkly like you?" Ash innocently asked Professor Oak

"Who are you calling old and wrinkly? Hehe," the professor chuckled, "it's not true to be honest. If it was true... well… I guess time travel wouldn't seem so Farfetch'd."

"Then what happens in a pokeball?" Ash was oblivious to the obvious pun that was thrown at him.

"Well, I don't really know what happens in pokeballs, it all depends on the pokemon," the professor first answered, "As to whether pokemons will age in a pokeball, of course they age! It's just that inside pokeballs, time feels a little bit shorter. I'm not sure why because I didn't create the pokeball, but I can tell you that for every second outside is roughly seven seconds in the pokeball."

Ash cursed as he tripped over a large tree root. Picking himself up, Ash continued to run past the wild vegetation in the forest. After tripping himself once more, Ash's stomach began to cramp. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to run right after eating some bacon.

He heard Serena and the Samurai call out for him, but there was no time for Ash to explain. Every second counted. Ash didn't even know why he was doing this. For all he knew, the Pikachu could already be dead inside the pokeball and he would have to deal with another incident in Pewter City.

Ash continued running through Viridian Forest, glancing at his PokeDex to see how close he getting. Only slowing down catch his breath. As Ash thought about it, he's been running a lot lately and felt a bit of satisfaction for finally understanding how his pokemon felt. Clouded in his thoughts, Ash failed to notice a tall looking man also running in the forest. He had thick lines for eyes and was fairly tanned. He also wore a green vest and an orange t-shirt underneath, exposing his skin to the sunny day.

Distracted by his PokeDex, Ash bumped into the tall man, dropping his PokeDex and falling to the floor once more.

"Oh, sorry kid, you came out of nowhere," the man offered his hand to Ash, "I would've stopped to let you pass but I didn't see you."

Ash rubbed his eyes before he grabbed the helping hand. His bottom was sore and his elbows were scraped after falling down so much. Even his knees were pretty badly scraped, but Ash paid no attention to them. To him, these injuries were nothing compared to the beating this dying Pikachu went under.

"Sorry I need to go-" Ash tried to book it, but the man made a quick grab for his collar, pulling him out of his hurried state, "Hey! I'm in a hurry here, I need to see Nurse Joy."

"You're going to go nowhere, you look like you just ran into a Cacnea," Brock joked, easily, "I'm sure your pokemon can wait for the beauty known as Nurse Joy, why don't we-"

"I can't, this Pikachu is really injured," Ash blurted out. With that, Ash ran from the man and this time was able to escape before he could grab him.

"Hey wait up!" the man shouted at him, "You don't look like you're in the best shape to run right now! At least let me help you bandage you up."

Ash didn't respond to the man. The more he talked, the more tired he was going to get.

"Hey! Stop!" the man called out in desperation. The man spotted a large ditch ahead and was afraid Ash was going to fall in. After seeing Ash constantly look at his PokeDex, it was only going to be a matter of seconds before Ash fell in.

The man lunged at Ash, grabbing him by the waist and altering their path before they could both fall into the ditch. Due to exerting too much strength in the pull, the man and Ash both lost their balance and fell despite the man's efforts. Fortunately, they didn't actually fall in the ditch.

Ash roughly rolled away from the man, dropping the Pikachu's pokeball. The pokeball landed on its white button, releasing the injured Pikachu.

"Sheesh kid, watch where you're going alright?" the man rubbed his eyes to get the dirt out. Ironic because the man's eyes were so small, he didn't seem to have any. "You almost fell down th- holy Arceus… what happened to your Pikachu?"

The chinky man quickly made his way to the yellow rodent and began observing it's injuries.

"Bruises everywhere… definitely some broken ribs…" the man began giving multiple tests to the battled-scarred Pikachu, "Legs are definitely damaged… probably permanent damage."

"Hey! I need to get this Pikachu to Nurse Joy, please put him back in the Pokeball," Ash pushed himself up. He picked up Pikachu's pokeball and recalled the Pikachu the second the man finished testing its physical capabilities.

"Kid, what happened to your Pikachu?" the man accused angrily, "you ruined your Pikachu's future. What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything! It was Team Rocket, th-"

"Team Rocket? What were you doing butting your head in their business? C'mon kid, look what happened." the man was getting angrier by the second. How could someone let their Pokemon get hurt to such an extreme point. What kind of sick mind did they have to have to let it suffer so much.

"I didn't do what you think I did, you're not understanding what happened," Ash tried to explain, "I saw Team Rocket abusing this little guy and after they left caught it to try and bring it Nurse Joy. Now get out the way cause I don't have time fooling around with you."

Ash brushed off the dirt on his hands and hooked Pikachu's ball to his belt, but before he could start sprinting, the man pulled Ash's arm for the millionth time that day.

"Wait up kid, you won't make it to the nurse in time, Pikachu's too injured." The man placed down his backpack and brought out an assortment of medicine. He also pulled out a white blanket and flattened it out to the ground. "I don't believe you completely but I'll take it for now. My name's Brock, pokemon doctor in the making. Now let me see what I can do for your Pikachu."

 **Uh so this is chapter 3. I know it's been a long time. But to be honest, I'm not really the type of person who would write I have to. I just write when I think it's fun. So. Yeah! I started writing thing chapter a long time ago, like right after chapter 2, but I got kind of lazy. I just recently decided to finish it up. Sorry if I made any mistakes. I'm not super great at grammar. Plus it's just me. I get lazy at rereading stuff.**

 **I've also realized that my chapters are getting shorter and shorter. LMAO. I'm a dick. I always tell myself I'll write more, but after writing like 20 pages, I lose a lot of my steam. Maybe I should start writing in single space instead of double space. Probably make the length of my chapters longer. Oh well.**

 **Also, I read this one review that was like super mean. Man, that actually sucks that this guy didn't like what I was writing. I even went back to and rethought my story to make my story seem not as mainstream. I'm trying okay! I really am. There's only so much original ideas my brain can make. Sheesh. But all in all, if you don't like this story, sorry. Guess I'm not cut out to be a writer.**

 **Why am I even talking? No one reads and AU anyways.**


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